Anyone who’s ever tried to shoehorn a witty or incisive comment into a 140-character tweet can appreciate what just a few more letters and symbols might do to help.

After former George W. Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer suggested on Twitter this week that President Barack Obama got more than the allotted number of characters in his tweets — a suggestion he quickly retracted — he was widely mocked.

Question to @gov: how come @BarackObama 's last tweet was more than 140 characters? Does he play by different rules???